“Best friend": a title earned by the elite of those closest to someone.
A high ranking for sure, but what helps a person earn this title? There’s a lot to consider.
Throughout life, we lose, gain, and keep multiple best friends, all of who share parts of your life. Through good experiences and bad, there’s always something different and defining about each of your best friends.
Best friends are the people you grow up with: your siblings. Your brothers and sisters who are there from the moment you enter this world and the ones who follow you into it. You’ll grow up together, side-by-side; you’ll get into fights and get into trouble together and cry along with them and learn to trust them with your entire being.
There is no one else in the world you will ever have the same bond that you share with your siblings. Cherish them.
Your brothers and sisters are your best friends.
Photo by Karley Nugent
Best friends are the people who you first connect with in middle school. Often with the first best friends you’ll have in your life, you come together and promise to be “BFF’s.” You share sleepovers and secrets throughout it all. You grow from children into preteens together, side-by-side, hoping the fun will never end.
These people are the ones who you start to figure out life with; who you share your dreams with.
There is no one else in the world you will ever have the same bond that you share with your best friends from middle school. Cherish them.
Your friends from middle school are your best friends.
Photo by Karley Nugent
Best friends are the people who come into your life in high school, and you can’t help but think, ‘where was this person all my life?’ They’re the ones you take pictures with at every football game, outing, and dance. They’re almost always the first person you drive with in the car after you get your license. They hold you up when you go through your first heartbreak and they’re the first person you confide in when you feel any form of sadness or confusion.
They’re the ones you Skype with every night and always do crazy stuff with. They’re the ones you go to more than anyone else and the reason you survive the insanity that is high school.
There is no one else in the world you will ever have the same bond that you share with your best friends from high school. Cherish them.
Your friends from high school are your best friends.
Photo by Karley Nugent
Best friends are the people you share your first year of college life with; your first roommate. You take that first step into adulthood and living on your own with that one person who will never share that experience with anyone else- and that’s something big. That’s a huge milestone you both go through and learn to overcome together.
You’ll spend nights talking about why you hate a professor and share countless conversations about how you both can’t wait to get out of that dorm and get an apartment together. There are so many first moments with them. They teach you how they do things, and you do the same for them. You learn to be grown-ups with that person.
There is no one else in the world you will ever have the same bond that you share with your first roommates from college. Cherish them.
Your first roommates from college are your best friends.
Photo by Forrest Nugent
Best friends are the people you share unforgettable experiences with. When you take a chance in life and roll the dice, seeing how something plays out, and they're next to you doing the exact same thing. You find these connections on things that matter to you. You share the same thoughts: "is this where I'm meant to be?"
And together, you discover you were both meant to be there. You were both meant to meet because fate brought you someone who is just like you. You found yourself in a person when you realized you weren't looking, and they give you pieces of you that you didn't know were missing.
There is no one else in the world you will ever have the same bond that you share with your someone you took a chance with. Cherish them.
The friends you make when you launch yourself into the unknown are your best friends.
Photo by Karley Nugent
It’s a great feeling; to know that your bond has risen above any and everything it’s faced. There is no one else in the world you will ever have the same bond that you share with your oldest friends. Cherish them.
Your friends from way back when are your best friends.
Photo by the waiter dude from our table whose name I don't know
The spectrum of best friends will span far and wide; they’ll be at your side from the moment you’re born all the way to standing beside you at your wedding and taking vacations with.If you haven’t talked to them in a while, call them. See how they’re doing. Ask them to get together and remember why you were friends with them in the first place. Reflect on the good times and the bad; go through the journey of rediscovering old best friends, and always make new ones, because more than anyone else, they will help you find out who you really are.
Happy exploring.
